B5193 - Monitoring, Protection and Restoration of Vegetation and Landscape

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, the student has acquired knowledge of the main ecosystems of Italian vegetation, habitats protected at the European level (Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC), the main regional, Italian and European regulations and instruments for biodiversity conservation, and the principles of landscape ecology and environmental restoration. In particular, the student is able to: (i) Characterize ecosystems and habitats according to their composition, structure and dynamic stability in anticipation of the interventions to be undertaken for their conservation management; (ii) Evaluate how treated ecosystems and habitats contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services; (iii) Design environmental restoration interventions suitable to the landscape and biogeographic context and evaluate their long-term success. Finally, the student has first-hand knowledge of the main plant species that characterize the ecosystems and habitats treated, and is able to identify vascular plant species in the field.

Course contents

Elements of Plant Ecology (6+7 hours)

Ecological factors affecting plant life and distribution and habitats (Light, Temperature, Water, Nutrients). Dispersal. Biotic interactions. Ecological niche.
The ecosystem: general concepts, components, delimitation, balance, vulnerability and resilience. Stress and disturbance. Carbon cycle, primary productivity and ecosystem services.

Practical 1: Identification of plant species (2 parts).

Excursion 1: Parco della Vena del Gesso Romagnola

Knowledge gained: Acquisition of basic knowledge of ecology to frame the territory in the ecosystem concept.

Vegetation and its spatial organization (8+18 hours)

Flora and vegetation. Biological forms. Vegetation classifications: physiognomic and syntaxonomic. CORINE and EUNIS systems for European habitat census. Habitat notebooks.
Vegetation dynamics.
Methods of studying and sampling vegetation and plant communities. Cartographic representations.
Italian vegetation distribution and altitudinal belts. Climatic, soil and forest vegetation characteristics of the Mediterranean, basal/supramediterranean, montane, subalpine belts. Distribution, ecology and role of major Italian forest species.

- Mediterranean belt (Quercus ilex, Quercus suber, Quercus coccifera, Quercus calliprinos, Ceratonia siliqua, Olea europaea var. sylvestris, Pinus pinea, Pinus pinaster, Pinus halepensis and other minor species).
- Basal/supramediterranean belt (Quercus robur, Quercus petraea, Quercus pubescens, Quercus frainetto, Quercus cerris, Quercus trojana, Quercus macrolepis, Carpinus betulus, Carpinus orientalis, Ostrya carpinifolia, Laburnum anagyroides, Acer campestre, Acer opulifolium, Acer obtusatum, Acer neapolitanum, Fraxinus ornus, Castanea sativa, Salix sp. pl., Alnus incana, Alnus glutinosa, Alnus cordata, Fraxinus oxycarpa, Ulmus minor).
- Mountain belt (Fagus sylvatica, Abies alba, Acer pseudoplatanus, Acer platanoides, Fraxinus excelsior, Ulmus glabra, Tilia cordata, Tilia platyphyllos, Prunus avium, Taxus baccata, Ilex aquifolium, Pinus sylvestris, Pinus nigra, Pinus laricio, Pinus leucodermis).
- Subalpine belt (Picea abies, Larix decidua, Pinus cembra, Pinus uncinata).
- Notes on woody pioneer species involved in the dynamic series of the different vegetation belts.

Practical 2: Casentino forests habitat photointerpretation with according to CORINE, EUNIS, Habitat Directive.

Excursion 2: Casentino Forests National Park, Mount Falterona and Campigna (Bidente di Ridracoli area).

Knowledge gained: Learning of methodologies and tools useful in the study and analysis of vegetation of vegetation for the purpose of its evaluation, monitoring and management. Acquisition of the theoretical assumptions of vegetation science. Knowledge of the main Italian forest ecosystems, the most common woody species in them, their ecology, dynamic role and reference value as native climax communities.


Ecosystem Conservation (6 hours)

Theoretical background on ecosystem conservation. International (CITES, Ramsar, CBD, etc.) and European (Birds and Habitats Directives) conventions on nature conservation.
Parks, ecological rebalancing areas, Natura 2000 network (SCI, SPA and SAC).

Knowledge gained: Knowledge of nature protection systems in Italy and Europe. Knowledge of codified systems for describing territorial biodiversity.


Principles of sampling and monitoring (6+2 hours).

Principles of sampling applied to monitoring. Concepts of representativeness, accuracy, precision and bias. Sampling error. Principles of sample distributions. Statistical tests. Sensitivity and specificity.
Power analysis. The statistical error (type I and type II).
Principles of sample design. Choice of sample units. Main sampling strategies (simple random, stratified random, systematic, cluster, two-stage)

Exercise 3:  A posteriori power analysis with R.

Knowledge gained: Knowledge of basic sampling concepts and the most common sampling designs applied to biodiversity monitoring


Principles of landscape and restoration ecology (5+2 hours).

Structure, function and change of landscapes. The patch mosaic model (patches, corridors, matrices). Ecological networks. Heterogeneity. Landscape and disturbance.

Principles of restoration ecology. Site assessment. Selection and sourcing of species for use.

Nature-based Solutions (NbS).

Analysis of environmental restoration projects. Monitoring of implemented interventions and analysis of results.

Practical 5: Calculating key landscape metrics with QGIS

Practical 4: Discussion of environmental restoration projects.

Knowledge gained: Acquisition of the principles of landscape and restoration ecology. Ability to correctly set up an environmental restoration intervention.

Readings/Bibliography

The lecturer will provide pdfs of texts, monographs and scientific articles on each of the topics covered in the lecture, as well as pdfs of each lecture once the topic has been completed.

Reference texts for the course include:

Blasi, C., Boitani, L., La Posta, S., Manes, F., & Marchetti, M. Stato della biodiversità in Italia. Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio. Direzione per la Protezione della Natura, 2005

Blasi, C. La Vegetazione d'Italia. Palombi & Partner S.r.l., Roma, Italy, 2010

Elzinga, C.L., Salzer, D.W., Willoughby, J.W., 2009 MEASURING & MONITORING Plant Populations (https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usblmpub/41)

Ferrari C., Pezzi G. L’Ecologia del Paesaggio. Il Mulino Universale, 2013

Giacomini, Valerio. La flora. Conosci L'Italia Vol. 2. Touring Club Italiano, 1958

Schulze E-D, Beck E, Buchmann N, Clemens S, Müller-Hohenstein K, Scherer-Lorenzen M. Plant Ecology.Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, 2019

Van Andel, Jelte, and James Aronson, eds. Restoration ecology: the new frontier. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

Series 'I Quaderni Habitat' - MASE - https://www.mase.gov.it/pagina/i-quaderni-habitat-collana

Not all the content of the recommended texts is actually to be considered for the preparation of the examination, and the purchase of the volumes is not recommended. The student should therefore select from the topics covered in the texts, those that are to be studied for the preparation of the examination, referring to what is detailed in the syllabus and slides.

Most of the texts are available for consultation at the University libraries.

Teaching methods

The course is mainly carried out through (i) lectures with video projection and (ii) practical exercises under the guidance of the lecturer relating to (a) planning and execution of vegetation surveys and identification of plant species, and (b) analysis of data collected in the field or derived from remote sensing in a suitably equipped computer room, as detailed in the programme. These teaching methods may be supplemented with the organisation of seminar meetings with technical experts on specific topics of the teaching programme.

The course involves the use of R and QGIS software, so prior knowledge is helpful, but not essential.

The first twelve hours of the course will be conducted in blended mode through Microsoft Teams.

As concerns the teaching methods of this course unit, all students must attend Module 1, 2 [https://www.unibo.it/en/services-and-opportunities/health-and-assistance/health-and-safety/online-course-on-health-and-safety-in-study-and-internship-areas] online, while Module 3 on health and safety is to be attended in class. Information about Module 3 attendance schedule is available on the website of your degree programme.

Assessment methods

The teaching is part of the Integrated Course B5191 MONITORING OF ECOSYSTEMS (C.I.) together with the teaching B5192 MONITORING AND TELERILEVEMENT OF FORESTS, and the examination takes place jointly between the two teachings. The verbalizing teacher is Prof. Federico Magnani.

The knowledge and skills imparted by this course are assessed through an oral interview. Assessment is based on the individual student's knowledge of the topics in the program, the content of the exercises, and the quality of exposition. The student is required to choose a habitat chosen from the series 'I Quaderi Habitat' (among those focusing to plant ecosystems) that will be the subject of the examination. The duration of the oral examination averages 45 minutes.

Attendance is not compulsory, and non-attending students may independently explore the course topics using the slides and study materials provided by the lecturer.

Teaching tools

PC, video projector. Computer room with individual workstations equipped for data processing with freeware software (R) and geographical data analysis with freeware software (QGIS). Tools for vegetation survey and plant species identification.

All teaching material is made available to students in advance via the Virtual Portal (virtuale.unibo.it).

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Maria Sabatini